Struggle in Russia

Nicholas I was very ill. The pneumonia caused by a severe cold completely destroyed his health. At this moment, he was lying on the hospital bed and kept talking nonsense. How could he still look like the powerful king in the past.

The Winter Palace was silent. The confidantes of Nicholas I, including the Empress and other female officials, were all standing outside the study door. Everyone was expressionless, and everyone seemed to have lost their souls. Queen Alexandra Ra just scribbled on the cross and kept praying.

After a long time, the door of the study was opened, and the chief imperial physician Mante walked out with a sullen face. Queen Alexandra quickly took the first two steps and asked with infinite hope: "The situation... how is the situation?"

Mante didn't answer Alexandra's question, he said very heavily: "Your Majesty's situation is not ideal, I think the Crown Prince should be invited over..."

After hearing this, Queen Alexandra's face turned pale, and she swayed a few times and almost fell to the ground. She stared at Mante with teary eyes and pleading. Although she didn't say a word, Man She knew what she meant.

So Mante shook his head slowly again. This was the last straw that broke the camel's back. Queen Alexandra's eyes went black and she fainted.

After a long time, under the influence of smelling salts, Queen Alexandra woke up leisurely. The thin queen was crying uncontrollably. Suddenly she struggled to sit up and instructed the servants: "Go and ask the crown prince to come over. , tell him that his father wants to see him!"

Crown Prince Alexander was presiding over the Council of State at this time. After Nicholas I became seriously ill, it was the first time he began to control the fate of the country. Before, he thought that becoming a tsar would be very exciting, and he could finally do what he wanted to do.

But when he really took on this burden, he found that the pressure was even greater than he imagined, especially since the current Nicholas I handed him to him is an out-and-out mess. There is no hope in the war with the allied forces, Sevastopol is still in jeopardy, and even the entire empire is shaken everywhere, and countless visible and invisible enemies are doing things.

All these messes made him worry about one thing and another, and he was exhausted in just a week. He couldn't imagine how his father had been in this position for so long and still had the energy.

"Sevastopol must not be given up," he said again, rejecting Nescher Roddy's suggestion, "Sevastopol must be held no matter what, it is already the spiritual pillar of the whole of Russia, give it up It's like admitting failure! And we're far from failed!"

That being said, but only Crown Prince Alexander himself knew that Sevastopol was not something that could not be given up. If the conditions were right and a decent result could be achieved, he actually didn't mind the Sevastopol defenders raising their flags and surrendering.

It's just that Duke Alexander Gorchakov's contacts with Austria, Britain and France in Vienna showed that the other party's appetite was greater than he imagined. Even if he could hold his nose and agree to Nicholas I, he could not agree to those conditions.

So even if Sevastopol is difficult, you can only continue to grit your teeth, otherwise Russia's last fig leaf will be thrown off!

At this moment, the chamberlain finally arrived, he rushed to the side of Crown Prince Alexander and whispered a few words, and the Crown Prince's face changed greatly!

"Temporarily adjourn!"

Crown Prince Alexander stood up and left without hesitation, which made all the former ministers look at me, I look at you, and everyone's already ugly faces became even more ugly.

Yes, they are all smart people, they know what happened with a little brainstorm, it is very likely that the most proud tsar is about to die!

Crown Prince Alexander hurried into the royal study on the first floor of the Winter Palace, where his father was lying on the marching bed that he had slept on all his life, covered in a military coat, with bony eyes and empty eyes, as if he was whispering something softly.

"Is it soon?".

When the Crown Prince Alexander walked into the study, he finally spoke clearly, as if asking when Crown Prince Alexander would arrive.

Mante looked at Crown Prince Alexander, who had just entered the door, and quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has already arrived!"

But Nicholas I shook his head and said, "I didn't ask him, but if I was about to die?"

Mante was stunned because this question was very difficult to answer. If anyone dared to discuss the health of Nicholas I, he would at least be exiled to Siberia. But today's situation is different. These days, he has figured out the thoughts of Nicholas I, knowing that this proud and stubborn tsar really has no will to survive and is eager to meet death.

As for the reason, of course, this war started by him did not achieve the desired result~www.readwn.com~ He could not accept failure, and he was even less willing to become a loser, but he had no good way to escape, so He can only die!

Mante sighed slightly, leaned into Nicholas I's ear and said, "Your Majesty, you are running out of time, if you have anything to explain, you'd better hurry up!"

Nicholas I sighed and seemed very satisfied with the result. He smiled at Mante and said, "Very good, very good! I have been looking forward to this moment!"

Speaking of which, he seemed to have accumulated all the strength in his body, and suddenly changed back to the former tsar, and said with dignity: "Now let me have a chat with my son!"

Mante bowed and backed out. Nicholas I stared straight at Crown Prince Alexander for a long time, and suddenly sighed: "My time is running out, as a father and emperor, I I really don't want to entrust this burden to you, it's not that I am attached to the position of power, but that I am very worried about you!"

"My child, you have been too... too sentimental since you were a child. You are more like a poet with too much emotion, rather than a warrior who can control the fate of the country and constantly fight for it."

"It's just that now it seems that the only one who can take over this burden is you. I want to pass the throne to you, but the situation is too bad. I've left you with too much disappointment and trouble!"

After a short pause, he suddenly said in the same high-pitched voice as before: "But this is your responsibility and your destiny, remember! You are a descendant of the Romanov family, with the blood of Peter the Great flowing in your body. Use your hands like those great ancestors!"

Saying that, he stretched out his hands and made a clenched fist gesture, and said sharply: "Use your hands to hold everything tightly like this! Be sure to hold it tightly! Only in this way can you rule this country!"